Business Wire National

November 6, 1985

(BU) GENERAL TIRE AND RUBBER CO. said Tuesday that it will close its Waco, Texas, tire plant within six months. The plant employs 1,500 people and is the city`s largest industrial employer. Jim Ritchie, vice president of public relations for Gencorp, General Tire`s parent firm in Akron, Ohio, said the plant was being closed because of a major downturn in the bias-tire market due to imports and the popularity of radial tires.

(BU) THOMAS TEW, the Miami lawyer appointed by the court to oversee the failed ESM Government Securities Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday in Cincinnati that he hopes to recommend first payments to ESM creditors by year`s end -- if creditors can agree on their shares. Tew, receiver and trustee for the bankrupt ESM, said $30 million to $35 million is available to pay about 20 major creditors, including cities, school boards and thrifts that were ESM customers. The money would be distributed through a stockbroker liquidation Tew is overseeing, under supervision of U.S. District Judge Jose A. Gonzalez Jr. of Fort Lauderdale. Tew said, however, that he has not yet identified all ESM customers who would be eligible for payments. Tew was in Cincinnati Tuesday to testify before a grand jury investigating the collapse of Home State Savings Bank, which failed just a few days after ESM last March. Tew said he is scheduled to testify today in Columbus before an Ohio legislative committee investigating Home State`s collapse. Ohio legislative leaders have agreed to a Feb. 1 deadline for wrapping up their inquiry.

(BU) A FEDERAL JUDGE in Miami Tuesday denied a North Carolina toymaker`s bid to block the $26.5 million friendly takeover of the ailing Deltona Corp. by Topeka Power Group. Empire of Carolina, which owns 29 percent of Deltona`s stock, may appeal the ruling. But Miami-based Deltona, which builds planned communities in Florida, said it hoped to close the deal with Topeka, a Minnesota Power subsidiary, by the end of the week.

(BU) THE COMEAU BUILDING, a 100,000-square-foot office building and retail mall in downtown West Palm Beach, has been sold by the Atlin Co. to a limited partnership for $6.3 million. The 10-story building, at 319 Clematis St., was built in the late 1920s and completely renovated in 1977. Principals in the Comeau Office Building Limited Partnership are David K. Silverberg and Mark Munsell, both real estate investors from Cleveland, and Thomas L. Warriner.

(BU) PIEDMONT AIRLINES said Trans Air Inc. of Fort Lauderdale and Southern Express Airways Inc. of Miami will become part of the Piedmont commuter system in Florida effective Jan. 15. Under the agreement, the two commuter airlines will not be acquired but will conduct joint marketing programs with Piedmont, and coordinate schedules and fares. Trans Air and Southern Express planes will be painted with Piedmont`s blue, white and red insignia and will be listed as Piedmont flights elsewhere in the country, providing increased recognition. Piedmont will announce some new routes for both carriers in the next several weeks.

(BU) EASTERN AIRLINES INC. said its October traffic rose 6.2 percent to 2.51 billion revenue passenger miles from 2.37 billion in October 1984. A revenue passenger mile is one passenger flown one mile. The percentage of seats filled for October was 54.9 percent, down from 56.2 percent a year earlier.

(BU) GENERAL DEVELOPMENT CORP. of Miami Tuesday announced it had a 25 percent increase in net income for the third quarter of 1985, at $6 million or 80 cents per share compared with $4.8 million or 64 cents per share a year earlier. General Development became a public company Sept. 13, after more than 10 years as a subsidiary of City Investing Co.

(BU) IBM ANNOUNCED price increases Tuesday for selected IBM Personal Computer software programs. The increases affect 139 of more than 475 programs offered by IBM for its line of personal computers. Most of the increases, based on IBM single-unit prices, the company said, are 8 to 10 percent.

(BU) REVLON INC. Chairman Michel C. Bergerac resigned Tuesday as Pantry Pride Inc. of Fort Lauderdale assumed ownership of the cosmetics and health-care concern. Revlon and Pantry Pride said they reached an agreement for the ``orderly transfer of control`` following Pantry Pride`s successful $1.83 billion tender offer for Revlon`s stock last week. Ronald O. Perelman, chairman and chief executive of Pantry Pride, replaced Bergerac. Pantry Pride is controlled by MacAndrews & Forbes of New York. The French-born Bergerac had headed Revlon since 1974, when he was recruited by the company`s founder, the late Charles Revson. Bergerac stands to receive about $35 million from his Revlon stock and a ``golden parachute`` employment contract, which is a payment to a corporate officer in the event the company changes hands.